2024-01-11 07:22:02
MELBOURNE (AP) — Top-ranked Iga Swiatek will meet Sofia Kenin, the 2020 champion, in the first round, and might face Angelique Kerber, the 2016 champion, in the second.
Another option in that second round is Danielle Collins, in what would be a tough start to Swiatek’s quest to win her first Australian Open trophy.
Defending champion Novak Djokovic will begin his quest for a record-extending 11th tournament title with a matchup once morest a player who was in the qualifying rounds. In the third phase, the Serbian might face Andy Murray and in the quarterfinals he might clash with Stefanos Tsitsipas, last year’s runner-up.
The singles brackets of the tournament were defined on Thursday. And the return of former champions Naomi Osaka, Kerber and Caroline Wozniacki to Melbourne Park, following interruptions in their careers due to motherhood, led to some duels that look very close in the opening rounds.
Osaka, who won the Australian Open and the US Open twice, opens once morest No. 16 Caroline Garcia. She is also in the same part of the draw as US Open champion Coco Gauff.
Kerber, a three-time major champion, will begin her participation once morest Collins, who beat Swiatek in the semifinals here in 2022, when she reached the final. That was the best performance in Australia by Swiatek, a three-time winner of the French Open.
Victoria Azarenka, two-time champion of the Australian Open, and Jelena Ostapenko, champion of Roland Garros in 2017, are other pre-seeded players in the part of the draw where Swiatek is.
Wozniacki, the 2018 champion, will face Magda Linette, the 2023 semi-finalist and 20th seed, in the first round. Aryna Sabalenka, the defending champion, opens once morest a tennis player from the qualification.
Elena Rybakina, the third seed and 2022 Wimbledon champion, lost the Australian final to Sabalenka last year. She will now play a complicated initial duel once morest Karolina Pliskova, once first in the ranking.
A possible quarterfinal matchup in the women’s division might be Swiatek, 1st, once morest Marketa Vondrousova, 7th. Others might pit Rybakina once morest Jessica Pegula, 5th: Sabalenka, 2nd, once morest Ons Jaberur, 6th, and Gauff, 4th, once morest Maria Sakkari, 8th.
Djokovic and Tsitsipas, 7th, might play the rematch of the 2023 final, but in the quarterfinals. In that same instance, Jannik Sinner (4th) might collide with Andrey Rublev (5th); Carlos Alcaraz (2nd) with Alexander Zverev (6th), and Daniil Medvedev (3rd) once morest Holger Rune (8th).
Two past Wimbledon finalists are not among the seeds now, as they return from injuries. But they might be major obstacles for tennis players ranked in the top 10.
Tsitsipas will face Matteo Berrettini, while local Alex de Miñaur, 10th, will play once morest Canadian Milos Raonic.
The Australian Open, which will run for 15 days, begins on Sunday.
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